Premier League End of Season Awards: The good, the bad, the ugly

With another Premier League season in the books, we hand out some hardware, and take a look back at the most memorable moments, good and bad, from the 2014-15 campaign.

The Good

Best Player: Eden Hazard

This one isn't hard.

Chelsea didn't always make for the most enjoyable viewing, as is customary for a Jose Mourinho-led team, but Eden Hazard did. The little Belgian wizard, who scored 14 goals and added nine assists during his most consistent campaign yet in England, dazzled with his dizzying array of dribbling and passing skills, shouldering the attacking burden for the Blues throughout the campaign.

It's no coincidence that the 24-year-old captured both the PFA and Football Writers' Player of the Year awards.

Best Signing: Diego Costa, Chelsea - reported £32 million from Atletico Madrid

Alexis Sanchez and teammate Cesc Fabregas were very much in the running for this, but at the end of the day, it's impossible to ignore the fact that Chelsea were desperately screaming out for a striker last season as Fernando Torres, Demba Ba, and Samuel Eto'o toiled away up front.

Enter villain extraordinaire: Diego Costa.

His antics on the pitch are infuriating, but the snarling battering ram of a striker has more than justified his price tag by smashing home 20 goals in only 26 matches. The Blues needed a striker. They signed a striker. They won the Premier League. It's not that simple, but it's close.

Best match: Leicester City 5, Manchester United 3

Jaw-dropping. Astounding. Unbelievable. Many an adjective were used to describe Leicester City's comeback victory over United in September, which saw the Foxes overturn a 3-1 deficit in the second half by scoring four unanswered goals in 21 minutes.

As much as it was an adjective-inducing contest, it was a perfect metaphor for Leicester's season. Seemingly dead and buried, Nigel Pearson's club rose from the ashes to accomplish the unthinkable.

It also spawned this wonderful photo:

(Courtesy: The Telegraph)

Best Moment: Jonas Gutierrez secures Newcastle's survival

If you can't enjoy seeing someone who battled - and eventually overcame - testicular cancer with a smile on his face, you have no soul.

Newcastle needed at least a draw on the final day of the season to avoid relegation, and when cancer survivor Jonas Gutierrez scored late in Sunday's match against West Ham to give the Magpies a 2-0 lead - securing their safety - the football world came together to acknowledge the touching, emotional moment.

Sometimes, this game can be a beautiful thing.

Best Goal: Charlie Adam vs. Chelsea

So. Many. Choices.

In the end, I'm judging this by one simple criteria: could any of the great goals that were scored this season be replicated? Juan Mata's scissor-kick against Liverpool, Bobby Zamora's chip against West Brom, Phil Jagielka's thunderbolt in the Merseyside derby. Those could be mimicked in the future.

A 70-yard goal over Thibaut Courtois? Yeah, nope.

The Bad

Biggest Disappointment (Player): Angel Di Maria

It all started so well.

Angel Di Maria stormed into the Premier League after his British-record £59.7-million move to Manchester United from Real Madrid, and questions started to be asked about whether the sinewy Argentine midfielder was on his way to being one of the best players the league had ever seen.

We all got carried away just a bit.

A combination of injuries, changing formations, and a severe dip in form saw the 27-year-old whither, spending much of the second half of the season either in the stands or stapled to the bench.

His 10 assists were still good enough for joint-third in the league, but after his rip-roaring start to life in England, Di Maria's campaign ultimately felt akin to air being let out of a giant balloon.

Biggest Disappointment (Team): Everton

From a 72-point, fifth-place season last year, Everton, hampered by horrendous goalkeeping from Tim Howard, a pressing system that was easily broken week-in and week-out, and a thin squad that actually relied on Aaron Lennon to do things, fell off a cliff in 2014-15.

Having to worry about the added burden of the Europa League didn't help, but I don't think anybody realistically saw the Toffees falling all the way down to 11th this season.

Strangest Outburst: Nigel Pearson is fond of ostriches

Note to journalists everywhere: Nigel Pearson is not afraid to shame you publicly, even if he really has no basis for doing so.

Ian Baker learned that during a post-match press conference following Leicester's 3-1 loss to Chelsea in April, when Pearson went on this puzzling rant:

... your question is absolutely unbelievable, the fact you do not understand where I am coming from. If you don’t know the answer to that question then I think you are an ostrich. Your head must be in the sand. Is your head in the sand? Are you flexible enough to get your head in the sand? My suspicion would be no.

At least Baker had some fun with it.

The Ugly

Worst Signing: Mario Balotelli, Liverpool - £16 million from AC Milan

It wasn't entirely his fault, and he came under far too much criticism at Anfield - turning into a whipping boy for the team's overall failure - but the numbers don't lie: Mario Balotelli scored one more goal than you did in the Premier League this season.

That is all.

Worst Moment: Steven Gerrard's red card vs. Manchester United

Worst. Most hilarious. Same thing.

Playing his final match against bitter rivals Manchester United, Liverpool's iconic captain trotted triumphantly onto the pitch to begin the second half after being introduced as a substitute at Old Trafford.

After a whirlwind 38 seconds, he meandered off with his tail between his legs, defeated. Gerrard, in one of the more incredible sequences in recent memory, was shown a straight red card by referee Martin Atkinson for stamping on the leg of Ander Herrera.

It was astonishing, incredibly funny, and terribly sad all at the same time.

Worst Decision: Paul Lambert's contract extension

Maybe Nigel Pearson was talking about the Aston Villa front office all along.

I mean, if we're comparing people to ostriches, the decision to give Paul Lambert a contract extension after securing 10 points from your first four matches - despite gaining those points in entirely unsustainable fashion - reeks of having your head buried in the sand.

Regression hit the Villans like a freight train rumbling down a hill, and Lambert ultimately got the boot in February.